The Disney Song Encyclopedia - fieldi

“THE CIRCLE OF LIFE” 33
Tim Rice (lyric) wrote the gluttonous number, which Shenzi (Tracy Nicole
Chapman), Banzai (Stanley Wayne Mathis), and Ed (Kevin Cahoon) sing
as they lick their chops and prepare to eat the young lion cub Simba (Scott
Irby-Ranniar).
“Cinderella” is the enchanting title song written by Mack David, Jerry
Livingston, and Al Hoffman for the 1950 animated fairy tale movie. The
Disney Studio Chorus sings the dreamy number over the opening credits
of the movie, promising Cinderella that she will live happily ever after if she
gives her heart over to the possibility of such happiness.
“Cinderella” is the pulsating rock number written by Lindy Robins and
Kevin Savigar for the made-for-television movie The Cheetah Girls (2003).
Rehearsing in an empty theatre, the teenagers Galleria (Raven-Symoné),
Chanel (Adrienne Bailon), Aqua (Kiely Williams), and Dorinda (Sabrina
Bryan) sing about the fairy tales their mothers once read to them as children.
They are self-empowered girls now and are not waiting for any prince;
they vow to rescue themselves from any dragons that appear.
“Cinderella Work Song” is the busy character number written by Mack
David, Jerry Livingston, and Al Hoffman for the title heroine in the animated
movie Cinderella (1950), but it was cut from the final script. An early
concept in the film had Cinderella, after being promised she could go to the
ball if her chores are done, imagining herself multiplying into several girls
in order to get the work completed. The frantic, repetitive melody evokes
the circles Cinderella is going in and the lyric is a tongue twister of addition
and multiplication as the heroine imagines transforming from one scullery
maid into a regiment of housekeepers. Both the concept and song were
later eliminated, but bits of the idea can be found in “The Work Song.”
“The Circle of Life” is the stirring song about the mysterious ways of
nature that opens the animated film The Lion King (1994). As the various
animals on the savanna gather to pay tribute to the future Lion King named
Simba, Carmen Twillie sings the entrancing number on the soundtrack with
assist by Lebo M, whose African chanting made the Elton John (music) and
Tim Rice (lyric) song soar to an almost spiritual level. John’s recording, less
reverent and more pop in flavor, was a major success. Other recordings were
made by Michael Crawford, Roan Keating, John Bayless, Oliver Shanti, Barbara
Hendricks and the Abbey Road Ensemble, and Magpie. In the 1997
Broadway version of The Lion King, the narrator Rafiki (Tsidii Le Loka) led